Chennai, Jan 20 (BPNS)
The ruling DMK and the Dravidar Kazhagam (DK) are conducting protest marches at Villupuram town after a life-sized statue of social reformer and father of the Dravidian movement of Tamil Nadu, Periyar E.V. Ramasamy was damaged after a lorry rammed into it. The incident occurred in the early hours of Thursday.
The lorry driver Mahendra Sable (28) from Pune was arrested and police said that it was an accident and no ulterior motive was behind the lorry ramming into the statue and damaging it.
Villupuram police said that the lorry was carrying tyres from a factory in Nettapakam in Puducherry to Pune and the accident occurred when the driver was reversing the vehicle and it hit on the statue damaging it. Police said that the statue was 40 years old and that it was erected at the intersection of Kamarajsalai in Villupuram town.
DMK local leaders and cadres staged march towards the police station and had heated exchanges with the policemen urging stringent action against the driver.
The workers of the Dravidar Kazhagam (DK)also were in an agitated mood and K. Rajadas, a local DK leader while speaking to BPNS said, “ We don’t think that these are freak accidents. For the past few weeks, the statues of Thanthai Periyar across Tamil Nadu are being damaged or desecrated and we feel that there is a concerted effort behind this to discredit him and his ideology which is directed against the upper class and for the downtrodden. We want a thorough investigation into the case to unearth whether any planning was done and if so someone was behind this. We don’t believe the police version and let a proper investigation be conducted and then let us see.”
In a related development, Thanthai Periyar Dravidar Kazhagam (TPDK) workers conducted a protest march towards the Villupuram police station. M . Ramakrishnan, president of TPDK while speaking to BPNS said, ” There are some ulterior motives behind the continues attacks on the statutes of Thanthai Periyar and it is a shame that these incidents are happening while a political party like DMK is in power in Tamil Nadu. Police have to act strongly and conduct an investigation without any bias and preconceptions.”
